Quilter/writers often plan a series of books, or find their initial book is evolving into a number of them, one leading to the next.  Jennifer Chiaverini has done this with the Elm Creek Quilts series, developing pattern and recipe books in addition to her novels.
I’ve discovered that The Quiltmaker’s Gift is followed by pattern books.
When I wrote an initial post about the children’s story book, The Quiltmaker’s Gift, I didn’t realize the interest it eventually would evoke.  One reader of Quilting and Patchwork asked where she might find fabric with related designs on it, so I sent out her request in …read more

Since our new year goal (here at Declutter It) is to score a totally organized home front, I thought I’d toss out this book reminder for folks who may have missed it the first time around.

If you’re new to Declutter It, you may have missed me talking about this amazing book. If so, read, Organize Now! Possibly the Only Organizing Book You Need…
Trust me, I’ve read scads of organizing books, and many are good, even great, but this book you will love. If your goal is to get neat and tidy this year, check out my review of this book.
Next …read more

I recently received a copy of Organize Now! by Jennifer Ford Berry, and I’m thinking that this book would make the perfect holiday gift for a friend or family member looking to get organized.

First of all, yes, the book really is this cute. I love the style and bright color. Face it, if you need to get organized, the last thing you need is to lose your darn guidebook. You won’t lose this one.
Basic facts about Organize Now!: 

Today we went to the library and as usual I hit the architect books first, and by luck someone left this design book sitting in the architect section.
Minimalist Interiors by Quim Rossel.
I like minimalist design a lot, not necessarily because my goal is to live this way, or because I think I’ll design my own house in a minimalist style, but because it shows what’s possible, what’s livable, and uncluttered at the same time.
I like that you can work with the minimalist design and tweak it upwards if you like. By upwards, I suppose I mean add more stuff. Some …read more

I figured that since I just did a post on magazines, I should also show you this great video on sorting your magazines. I wouldn’t want your magazine collection to get out of control and it be my fault! lol.

I like the folder she used that you can just grab and go when you have an appointment. How many times have you been sitting at the dentist office reading this great article in a magazine and then they call your name next? You never get to finish reading the article!! This way, you will have your own collection of magazine …read more

I have two great organizing magazines to tell you about. I received my “Organize Magazine“  in the mail a few days ago and I love it! It has Sherri Shepherd, from The View, on the cover and they have a story about how a professional organizer helped her get her New York apartment very organized. She moved from a big house in L.A., to a small apartment in New York. Big difference! I got some great ideas for my own home that I am planning on putting into place.
The other magazine that I bought is the “Southern Living Storage & …read more

The lovely Sandy from All Holiday Cafe sent me this awesome link a while back – I think she meant for me to post it at Offbeat Homes – and it is offbeat, but it’s also a super slick way to organize your books. Oddly, Julie posted something like this recently (that’s your clue).
So, without looking at the original post, can you tell what sort of organizing structure this is? Julie – would know, (so Julie no guessing)
It’s ultra cool and the entire set-up can be seen at Apartment Therapy (a killer blog by the way).

I am reading a great book right now called How to Cheat at Organizing: Quick, Clutter-Clobbering Ways to Simplify Your Life. I love the cover of the book with Jeff Brendenberg juggling stuff (at least I am assuming that’s him). I feel like that’s all I do sometimes is juggle. I juggle our schedule, toys, my to-do list and on and on.
The whole basic concept of the book is “Let’s Organize Just Enough”. Instead of trying to achieve perfection like you see in the magazines, why not organize just enough to where it works for you?
Here’s an excerpt from …read more

At my house, we have a shoe basket near the door. It’s where the shoes are “supposed” to go after the kids take them off. Living in Alaska for three years got us in the habit of taking our shoes off when we entered the house. Well, honestly, the shoes make it to the basket every once and awhile. They usually like to sit in the middle of the floor somewhere so that I can easily trip over them or piled up by the basket like the picture above.
Maybe my kids would learn to put their shoes away if we …read more

Do you have a ton of books? My husband and I both love to read and we have quite the book collection.
A few months ago we finally weeded through all of our books from school and got rid of a lot of them that we knew we would never need again.
If you have a lot of books, you probably easily forget what you have and what you don’t have. By putting together a simple organizational system for your books, you can always know what’s there.
Here’s a great video that gives you some tips on organizing your book collection.

Technorati …read more